From a reading perspective, 2023 was a disappointing year. I got sidetracked by a few other things, and also got stuck in some less-than-enjoyable reads. In the end, and from a “volume” point of view, it was unsatisfying. In two workds: too few.

Towards the end of it – say, the last quarter – I got back on track and enjoyed a few good books. The last book of the year, On Writing by S. King – in fact, its memoir – underlined a few important things. First of all, to stay within just the 50% of a pro like S.K., I need to read about 35 books in a year. Thc total count of the year just past was 17, of which 2 were technical books. In conclusion: I am far away from it.

Another takeaway is about fiction books. I used to read a lot of them previously, and have neglected them for the past 5+ years. It’s time to go back.

My favorite book of the year was The founders, even though it was a close call with Bad Blood. I really enjoyed them both. In the end, the former deals with a topic closer to me, that’s all.

I did not read any truly “bad” book this year (that’s likely another sign that I didn’t read enough). By exclusion, therefore, the honorable mention as worst title of the year goes to The Scout Mindset. That book felt too cheesy to me. Some of the examples feel completely made up, just to convince the reader of something and bring them onboard with the author’s point.

And now, for the whole (short) list.

General books

The Scout Mindset, J. Galef (Jan 10 – Mar 5)
Not liking the prose. Some examples feel really fake (she remembers some random conversation in high school?!). Too much of “you, you, you”. Too much of trying to convince the reader. In the end, it’s neither a yes nor a no. Readable, but not enjoyable. I liked the last chapter most of all.

The 22 immutable laws of marketing, A. Ries and J. Trout (May 1 – May 10)
Very nice little book. Straight to the point and easy to read. And it contains so many key insights that I think I will re-read it soon.

What I talk about when I talk about running, H. Murakami (May 19 – May 26)
The subject feels close, obviously. I was surprised by the prose, though I am not sure I liked it. Appreciate the very direct honesty. After finishing it, I went ahead and learned a bit about the author, whom I didn’t know at all.
It made me want to write even more.
(Comment added on Jan 1, 2024): By the way, the guy’s not a good runner!

The founders, J. Soni (May 27 – Jun 7)
Fantastic. Best book in a long while. Huge source of ideas and reflections and…just any thoughts.

Thought economics, V. Shah (Jun 9 – Jul 16)
Very interesting. I love the interview format. I think though that a better job could have been done in making the whole more coherent. That said, it’s hugely inspirational and definitely worth revisiting time and time again.

Bad Blood (2023 edition), J. Carreyrou (Aug 6 – Aug 13)
My kind of book. Loved the reporting. Great read.

Physics and philosophy, W. Heisenberg (Sep 8 – Sep 20)
Fascinating. Smooth and uneasy at the same time, this book opens for me a new chapter of reading. It made me think: “I should have studied physics”.

The road to freedom, A.C. Brooks (Sep 28 – Oct 7)
Unfortunate title.
Chapter 7 is very interesting and contains a lot of good food for thought. However, the exposition is a tad pedantic and could be smoother.
Overall, it’s a yes. Interesting subject (despite the cheesy title) and very well written. It’s also very opinionated.

Undoctored, A. Kay (Oct 8 – Oct 19)
Very fun! I would say a tad less fun than “This is going to hurt”, which is understandable: new is always better.

In praise of good bookstores, J. Deutsch (Oct 22 – Oct 29)
A beautiful hymn to bookstores, reading and, consequently, to writing. It comes with a great deal of wonderful citations and references, worth noting and pondering. Some, like those about the classic books, the diluted time, the re-reading as the only way to intellectual life, had a big impact on me. Makes me want to write, to stay in a bookshop, to build a bookshop.

False Economy, A. Beattie (Oct 30 – Nov 13)
I enjoyed this one. It felt related, if not similar, to Why Nations Fail, one of my favorite books read in 2022, and to a lesser extent to The Road to Freedom, which I read about two months before and found interesting. Chapters are very interesting. The prose often goes to wide tangents that make it challenging to follow the logic, but it remains interesting. I would say that in some parts it lacks motion and therefore to keep reading feels like hard work.

Sur la lecture, M.Proust (Nov 17 – Nov 20)
“Readers are seen as guilty. Guilty of always being ready to isolate themselves into the magic of reading” – this thought really stuck with me, not just related to the act of reading. Short essay (around 70 pages) that was in fact the introduction to Proust’s translation of another book. Well, it’s Proust, so it takes 3 pages to say hi. Still, nice to read.

Holiday Romance, C. Dickens (Nov 21 – Nov 24)
Masterpiece!

QED, R. Feynman (Nov 27 – Dec 14)
Love at first “page”. This book blew my mind. There’s so much to know and to discover out there.

On Writing, S.King (Dec 17 – Dec 27)
First few pages make a big impression on me, even as I read them on an airplane. I will start the book all over again once home, and they will be the first few entries in my commonplace book. Loved it. Beautiful first part. Incredibly useful second part. Required passage for any aspiring, and professional, writer.

Technical books

The Art of Computer Programming: Vol 1, D.E. Knuth (May 3 – Sep 30)
Obviously, an influential masterpiece. It’s a book to read fast the first time, then to re-read more slowly, then again. And again. Massive, so do make good usage of the table of contents.

Probability theory in finance, S. Dineen (Oct 4 – Dec 14)
Second attempt; I had started this book once before just to leave it unfinished after a couple of chapters. This time “I am serious about it”.
A book that’s challenging to read. I wish it was more about economics and less about mathematics. At times it feels pedantic and a bit unnecessary.

Beautiful code, A. Oram and S. Wilson (Dec 21 – ongoing)
Fantastic first chapter. Second chapter not so much. The example is nice and nicely presented, but not in a good pedagogical way. Too big of a code chunk, and therefore details don’t emerge naturally.

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